AFL Update: October 10, 2011
Here’s a look at how the Nationals fared over the weekend in the Arizona Fall League…
FRIDAY
Scottsdale broke into the win column with a 7-3 decision over the Phoenix Desert Dogs.
- Derek Norris was the DH and went 1-for-4 with an RBI and 2K
- Pat Lehman pitched the 9th and allowed a hit and a walk but struck out two
SATURDAY
The Scorpions evened their record with another win over the Desert Dogs, 5-4.
- Zach Walters played 3B and doubled in five at-bats, making one assist
- Bryce Harper played RF struck out twice while going 0-for-5
- Norris caught and went 1-for-4 with a stolen base. No baserunners attempted to steal against him.
This week features home-and-home series with Mesa, Salt River, and Peoria with afternoon games on Tuesday and Saturday.
Winter leagues also start up in Mexico (tomorrow), Venezuela (Wednesday) and the Dominican Republic (Friday). Roster information is not yet available, though Syracuse pitcher Ryan Tatusko has announced via Twitter that he’ll be starting on Thursday. I’ll pass along info as I come across it, but most likely it will be on an ad-hoc basis.
Bryce was very busy rooting for the Yankees. Now that they are out of the playoffs he can concentrate on showing everyone how great he is in the AFL
By this time next week the Scorpions will have rotated through the entire league once; Maybe we’ll have a sample size worth discussing then.
The announcement from Tatusko puts him in either the MWL or VWL; It will be interesting to see how many Nationals appear in the three winter leagues this year.
It’s the VWL. Last year just two Nats participated in La Liga Mexicana del Pacifico and I don’t expect that to be much more this year, even if the Mexican gov’t claims that the risk is very low.
The Australian Baseball League and Puerto Rican League start up early next month. I expect the latter to be pretty popular again (last year six pitchers and four position players with WAS ties).